Tata Coffee's past was rooted in 1922 when two companies — M/s Coorg Co. Ltd., London and M/s Pollibetta Coffee Estates Co. Ltd., London — both managed by M/s Matheson & Co., combined to form Consolidated Coffee Estates Ltd., Edinburgh.

In 1943, Consolidated Coffee Estates Ltd., Edinburgh became a full fledged Indian company headquartered in Pollibeta. In the same year, the shares in Consolidated Coffee Estates Limited (CCE) were offered to the general public through a prospectus, with the parent, Edinburgh Company, being allotted a major share as a consideration for transfer of its estates.

Shortly thereafter, during the early part of the 1950-1960 decade, the Edinburgh Company sold all its shareholdings to the Indian public, relinquishing its controlling interest in CCE and becoming one of the first sterling plantation company to become an Indian company.

During 1966-67, Volkart properties in India, which included four estates, two curing works and an export division, merged with CCE, and the company was renamed as the erstwhile Consolidated Coffee Limited (CCL).

Tata Tea Limited, in a trend setting and transparent open offer to the resident shareholders, acquired a controlling interest in CCL during 1991-1992.

CCL became the single largest coffee plantation company in Asia with its estates located in Kodagu, Hassan, and Chikmagalur districts of Karnataka.

In a historic move in September 1999, M/s Asian Coffee Ltd., M/s Veerarajendra Estates Ltd., and M/s Charagni Ltd., merged with CCL, and became the single largest integrated plantation company in the world.

In 2000, the company was renamed as 'Tata Coffee Limited'.